Nick Clegg's most senior official was made aware of specific allegations about
Lord Rennard almost three years ago, correspondence published by the Daily
Telegraph today reveals.

This newspaper contacted Jonny Oates, who is now the Deputy Prime Minister’s chief of staff, in April 2010 with five specific allegations of incidents allegedly involving Lord Rennard.

The disclosure will add to the growing pressure on the Liberal Democrat leader who said last night that his office had only been aware of “non-specific” allegations surrounding the peer until last week.

The peer, who was the party’s chief executive until 2009, is facing accusations that he behaved inappropriately towards up to 12 women, some of whom were seeking political office with the Liberal Democrats. He has strongly denied the accusations.

The Daily Telegraph first became aware of the allegations which have now emerged in early 2010.

On 30th April 2010, this newspaper sent a detailed email to Mr Oates, who was then director of electoral communications for the Liberal Democrats. Within days of receiving the email he was appointed to the most senior position in Mr Clegg’s office.

The email made five specific allegations that had been made about Lord Rennard.

These included: “That at your September 2004 party conference in Bournemouth, Lord Rennard intimately groped a woman Lib Dem PPC [prospective parliamentary candidate], whose identity is known to us, while they posed for a group photograph.”

It continued: “That prior to the 2005 general election, two women PPCs, whose identities are known to us, were locked inside Lord Rennard’s home following a dinner, and told to go upstairs, and released when one threatened to call the police.”

A third allegation was that: “At a party held in December 2007 to celebrate Mr Clegg’s leadership election victory, Lord Rennard again groped the PPC referred to in incident 1.”

The email also stated that Jo Swinson, now a minister, and Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary of the Treasury, had been involved in investigations into Lord Rennard’s alleged conduct. Last night, Mr Clegg admitted that Mr Alexander had spoken to the peer about the allegations in 2008.

However, Mr Oates responded to The Daily Telegraph’s questions in April 2010 with a blanket denial.

He said: “It is untrue to state that Mr Clegg was made aware of the incidents you allege. Given this fact it is obviously untrue to state that Mr Clegg asked Jo Swinson or anyone else to carry out an investigation into the incidents that you allege.”

The response suggests that Mr Oates must have asked Mr Clegg at the time about the allegations – to establish whether or not he was previously aware of them.

After taking legal advice, The Daily Telegraph did not publish details of the allegations as none of the women wished to make public their concerns at the time and the party had denied the accusations.

We today publish the letter – and the response received – although the fifth, most serious allegation is not currently being disclosed.

Mr Clegg and Mr Oates are now likely to face further questions as to what steps they took to investigate the allegations in 2010 – if they had not previously been aware of specific incidents as they said last night.

Last night, in a statement, Mr Clegg, indicated that his office had been aware of rumours about Lord Rennard in 2008 – but that specific details only became apparent last week.

He said: “I would like to make one thing crystal clear. I did not know about these allegations until Channel 4 informed the party of them shortly before they were broadcast.

“I am angry and outraged at the suggestion that I would not have acted if these allegations had been put to me. Indeed, when indirect and non-specific concerns about Chris Rennard’s conduct reached my office in 2008, we acted to deal with them.

“My Chief of Staff at the time, Danny Alexander, put these concerns to Chris Rennard and warned him that any such behaviour was wholly unacceptable. Chris Rennard categorically denied that he had behaved inappropriately and he continues to do so.

“As my office only received concerns indirectly and anonymously, as those involved understandably wanted to maintain their privacy, there was a limit to how we could take this matter forward…It is incorrect to state that there was any other separate inquiry by my office or anybody in it.”

Mr Clegg has already announced that he has now established two inquiries to probe the allegations and the party’s response to them.